The Worst Movies I Saw in 2019

Just to even things out, here are the 20 worst movies I saw for the first time in 2019, most of which were part of my attempt to watch 100 movies from 1968. Turns out there are a LOT of bad movies from that year. Fight me on these if you want!

20. Legendary Weapons of China (1982). I'm sure this is better than my ranking. I just think kung fu movies are so boring.

19. Epic (2013). This movie is such a nonentity, I had to go look up my review to remember what it was even about.

18. Will Penny (1967). There were a LOT of westerns in 1968, solidifying for me how very dull and one-note I find cowboy characters.

17. Blade Runner 2049 (2017). I don't like the original Blade Runner and I don't like sequels, so this was probably unexpected.

16. Cocktail (1988). Did Tom Cruise show someone his party trick of flipping liquor bottles and someone say, "Let's make a movie about this, but, yeah, that bottle trick, that's the heart of it"?

15. Pretty Poison (1968). A pretty upsetting movie where I think I'm supposed to kind of root for the leads to be together when she is 16 and he is an adult. Later plot twists don't make this any less upsetting.

14. Jezebel (1938). It's like Gone With the Wind, but with less likable characters and less interesting cinematography.

13. Mute (2018). What a wildly disappointing, dull, ugly take on what could have been a good premise.

12. Bohemian Rhapsody (2018). This is the laziest kind of biopic.

11. You Were Never Really Here (2017). I don't think Lynne Ramsay and I speak the same film language. I just didn't "get" this one.

10. Wuthering Heights (1939). Oh my goodness, do I hate these characters.

9. Devil's Knot (2013). A very messily made movie about a very interesting true crime case.

8. Graveyard of Honor (2002). The last non-1968 movie in the bottom 20 for me. This character is wildly unappealing and I just didn't want to see him on screen anymore.

7. Shalako (1968). Another bland western. Sean Connery as a cowboy is very weird.

6. The Green Berets (1968). This pro-Vietnam-War movie feels like far more propaganda than storytelling, and I'm not interested in that.

5. Murder a la Mod (1968). A very early Brian de Palma which is all over the place.

4. Greetings (1968). Yet another very early Brian de Palma, and it's exceptionally student film-esque.

3. The Birthday Party (1968). I'm sure there's art behind both this play and this movie adaptation, but I just don't get it.

2. Barbarella (1968). This is so boring and sexploitational which isn't my style at all.

1. Head (1968). A truly nonsensical, dull movie that just feels like the Monkees trying to be the Beatles.

The Best Movies I Saw in 2019

Did I write this blog on December 21? Heck no! Am I still going to write one and hope I can pick back up with this daily blogging thing after the chaos of the holidays? Heck yes!

So everyone else is doing year-end (and now decade-end) posts. I'll jump on board and tell you my top 20 movies that I saw in 2019. Doesn't mean they came out in 2019, just that I saw them this year.

20. Miss Saigon (2015). A filmed production of the stage musical, which is not without its problems but has some truly gorgeous performances.

19. Finian's Rainbow (1968). What a weird little movie, but gorgeous cinematography that really makes the most of its musical numbers.

18. Dead Ringers (1988). Easily my favorite Cronenberg so far, I think. Dark and unsettling but so compelling.

17. Kuroneko (1968). I'm finding I really love Japanese folk horror, and this is a great example of it.

16. My Name Is Joe (1998). A thoughtful and touching drama. The same director did another film much higher on my list that I'll point out when we get to it.

15. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1968). This title is so apt, because this movie just oozes loneliness. And what a great performance from Alan Arkin.

14. Romeo and Juliet (1968). I love theater but not always Shakespeare, as even professional performances of his works so often feel stilted to me, like the actors are still wrestling with the speech. This is natural and lovely.

13. Woman in the Dunes (1964). The images from this film continue to haunt me. (In a good way.)

12. Dreams (1990). A strange little anthology film from Akira Kurosawa, and while they vary in terms of quality, it's so fascinating.

11. The Cameraman (1928). This is such a charming and funny little film. Keaton's eye for gags is so perfect.

10. Shoplifters (2018). I haven't seen a lot of foreign films from last year, but this one is such an interesting, touching story.

9. Broadcast News (1987). Pretty sure I just want to be Holly Hunter's friend in this movie. She's so relatable.

8. Knives Out (2019). A gloriously classic whodunnit that still feels seamlessly modern. That's an impressive feat.

7. The Seventh Continent (1989). Oh, OOF. My heart was punched out of my chest with this one.

6. The Kindergarten Teacher (2018). Maggie Gyllenhaal is a terrifying villain in this story, and you see her self-justifications every step of the way. What a powerful performance.

5. A Simple Plan (1998). A crime story that surprisingly roped me in from minute one. The build of tension is perfect.

4. Eighth Grade (2018). What a ridiculously relatable movie.

3. Mirai (2018). One of the most sweet and charming films I've ever seen about childhood. It captures the infuriating powerlessness of being about three years old.

2. Kes (1969). By the same director as My Name Is Joe (my #16). It's a sad and beautiful story of a young boy's relationship with a falcon he manages to train.

1. Us (2019). I think I like this even better than Get Out. Jordan Peele continues to knock it out of the park.

Top 5, Bottom 5: John Goodman

Let's do an easy blog! Easy blogs are the best! I just recently watched my 20th John Goodman movie (and I've , which means it's time to do a Top 5, Bottom 5 list for this actor. I'm sure I've seen a lot more movie where he's in it but just not mentioned in the top five actors, which is all Flickchart counts. Let's find out my favorite and least favorite movies of his.

Top 5:
1. Monsters, Inc. (2001, #8). My favorite Pixar movie, though it's been quite a few years since I rewatched it. I love the imaginative concept, I love the characters, and I love the narrative. The first Pixar film to make me cry, though not the one that made me cry the hardest.
2. The Emperor's New Groove (2000, #58). Interesting that my top two Goodman films are both voiceover roles for him. I'm delighted this movie has developed such a cult following, because it's a bright spot in the middle of the awful Disney decade from 1995-2005. Pixar aside, there was just nothing good out there... and then there was this, which is ridiculous and goofy and totally works.
3. Punchline (1988, #346). I'll be honest, I don't even remember Goodman being in Punchline, because all I remember are Tom Hanks and Sally Field, both of whom are phenomenal in their respective roles. This was a Movie Challenge 2014 assignment, and it ended up being a wonderful little gem.
4. Flight (2012, #420). This could have been horrifically cheesy if not for great acting on Denzel's part, and he completely sold me on this movie. I do remember Goodman in it and I remember him being good, but he's definitely not the star of this film.
5. 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016, #436). Oh man, now this is a starring role for John Goodman. It's a terrific movie, both as a thematic sequel to the original and as a standalone thriller, and Goodman is so, so good in it. I can't give many more details without getting spoilery, so I'll just say... go see it.

Bottom 5:
5. Raising Arizona (1987, #1487 out of 2607). Probably the only controversial choice on this list. I just can't get into this. I never like the Coen movies I'm supposed to like.
4. The Monuments Men (2014, #1882). I was so ready to love this despite the critics, but turns out it's just boring and not artistically inspiring at all.
3. Always (1989, #2097). Aside from some great flight scenes, this movie is pretty much wholly ridiculous and inept. A rare but definite miss from Spielberg.
2. Frosty Returns (1992, #2563). And even as my top two were voiceovers from Goodman, my bottom two are as well. Here he plays Frosty in a creepy, joyless sequel to the original Rankin Bass special. Ugh.
1. The Emperor's New Groove 2: Kronk's New Groove (2005, #2564). Ugh. The first was so good and the sequel so awful.

Top 5 Unseen:
1. Revenge of the Nerds (1984, #1661 on the global charts)
2. Sea of Love (1989, #2341)
3. Fallen (1998, #2608)
4. The Big Easy (1986, #2644)
5. Arachnophobia (1990, #2836)

What are your favorite John Goodman roles? Which of those unseens should I tackle first? I've only even heard of two of them.

Top 5, Bottom 5: 1985

Here, let's have a quick, simple blog post to talk about my favorite and least-favorite movies of 1985 according to my Flickchart. I've only seen 23, so there are a lot more I've yet to get to, but here are the standouts so far. All rankings are out of 2588 movies.

Top 5:
1. The Purple Rose of Cairo (#10). My second-favorite Woody Allen movie is this charming story of a woman whose favorite movie character steps off the screen to spend some time with her. It takes an unexpected turn at the end that I used to like, but I have since fully embraced it.
2. Back to the Future (#20). Two 1985 movies in my top 20? Wow. This is a classic favorite for a reason. It's such a creative, smart, funny script, and all the actors do an amazing job bringing it to life.
3. Ladyhawke (#69). Granted this is a nostalgic pick for me, but I have always liked tragic love stories, and this has such a great one at the heart of it.
4. The Breakfast Club (#134). I need to rewatch this one, but I remember being really impressed with how the script brought these characters to life. This kind of one-room drama has often been attempted but this is one of the few true successes.
5. Better Off Dead (#285). A delightful surprise when I first watched it. It's a morbidly quirky rom com starring John Cusack as an emotional teenager, and it's fantastic.

Bottom 5:
5. Silverado (#2080). This one, to be fair, probably isn't nearly deserving of its spot here. I mostly remember thinking it was just okay, not bad.
4. After Hour (#1882). This Martin Scorsese comedy is so over-the-top that it doesn't sit right with me at all and ends up reminding me of Lynchian horror more than anything else.
3. The Goonies (#1818). From my experience, it seems like most people who watch this as an adult are as unimpressed with it as I am. The tone of it is super weird to me, and I don't like any of the characters.
2. Legend (#1639). Tim Curry aside, this weird little movie is pretty forgettable. I had to think for a minute to remember which one it even was.
1. The Man With One Red Shoe (#1515). Like Legend, this movie just isn't terribly memorable. I think Tom Hanks was okay in it.

Top 5 I Haven't Seen:
1. Come and See (globally #337)
2. Re-Animator (#502)
3. Pale Ride (#792)
4. Day of the Dead (#803)
5. Witness (#848)

What's your favorite movie of 1985? And which of my unseen ones should I watch first?

The Top 100: Rent

The Top 100 is a blog series where I rewatch and rerank the movies that were in my Flickchart top 100 at the beginning of the challenge. I'm watching them in a random order to be as unbiased as possible in terms of reranking.

It's been... a long time since I did one of these blogs. Frankly, that was because part of me was worried to rewatch this movie -- my original #44, Rent. I was a devout Rent-head as a late teen, early 20-something, and I still enjoy so much of the music, but in the back of my mind I kind of had an inkling that this was going to fall out of favor on a rewatch. But then I reminded myself that I thought the same thing about Beauty and the Beast and it ended up actually climbing two spots, so who knows?

Rent was the 2005 movie adaptation of one of Broadway's most-loved musicals. Its creator, Jonathan Larson, died tragically from a brain aneurysm on opening night, so he never got to see how much his show meant to so many people. It latched onto something in the culture and put that on stage with music, and it became a massive hit. The movie version came out nine years after the Broadway version hit and, with the exception of Tracie Thoms as Joanne and Rosario Dawson as Mimi, the entire Broadway cast reprised their roles.

It tells the year-long story (or possibly two years, I am always slightly confused by the chronology) of a group of broke friends in New York in 1989-1990. It's an eclectic group: a 19-year-old exotic dancer, a songwriter starved for great ideas, a philosophical hacker and his drag queen lover, an aspiring filmmaker still getting over a breakup, his flighty activist ex, and the down-to-earth woman she left him for. We also see glimpses of their former comrade who has married into money and now is firmly on "the other side," as far as they're concerned. Half the characters have AIDS, two of them are or were drug abusers, all of them have some great songs.

Before we get into the full review, here's my live-blogging take on it. As always, spoilers ahead!

• Today I'll be watching Rent... seven months after my last Top 100 rewatch. It's time to get this show on the road again!
• It's been awhile since I watched the movie... I have no idea if it'll grab hold of me the way it has in the past.
• Turning off the subtitles. I know all the lyrics already and they're actually distracting me.
• This movie is very visually dark. I can't even tell what's happening in this opening scene with Collins getting beaten up.
• Wait, that's their only source of heat in NYC in December, and they just throw it out the window? That seems like a bad idea.
• "Think twice before you pooh-pooh it." One of the most hilariously awful lyrics in all of musical theaterdom.
• ...Am I at the stage of my life where I sympathize most with Benny?
• I forgot they use "One Song Glory" to do Roger's back story. I think that works really well, actually.
• The subtle actions happening throughout "Light My Candle" are almost impossible to distinguish because it's so visually dark. :-/
• So far I'm not blown away, but my favorite songs are yet to come. We'll see if they rope me in more.
• Rosario Dawson's "Out Tonight" is one of the highlights so far, for sure. She really captures the restlessness in the whole show.
• The sound mixing in "Another Day" is weird.
• I love the harmonies in "I'll Cover You."
• That's such a touching moment when Roger realizes Mimi has AIDS too.
• I forgot about the extremely uncomfortable setting for "Take Me Or Leave Me."
• Whoa, hold up, Mimi and Benny had a thing "two years ago"? So when she was 17 and he was quite a bit more than 17? Not OK, Benny.
• The movie figured out what to do with "Without You." The most boring song in the show becomes something very lovely.
• Oh, man, that shot of Angel and Collins in the hospital bed. Heartbreaking.
• "And sure enough, next year they'd be mass producing them..." But they've known Angel less than a year. This timeline is off.
• Still think Jesse L. Martin's "I'll Cover You (Reprise)" is stunning. The rest of the movie no longer holds up, but, man, that scene.
• "I'd be happy to die for a taste of what Angel had" - way to turn someone's tragic death into an opportunity to whine about your love life.
• LOL, that dude just gave Roger money on the street but he wasn't even playing anything, just looking mopey with a guitar.
• I forgot that Collins' happy ending is him just blatantly stealing money.

My initial thought was that this wasn't going to have quite the same impact that it did on me 5-10 years ago when I first fell in love with the show and then the movie came out. My initial thought was right. I still think nearly all of these songs are good on their own, and a few of them are even meaningful within the context of the movie, but I found, to my surprise, I didn't connect with any of these characters anymore. Roger is self-righteous and mopey, Mark is constantly indignant about basic adult things like having to pay rent and get a job, and, well, let's not forget that Maureen is the worst person ever and Joanne deserves so much better.

Collins and Angel are easily the most likable characters. Of all the people who could be indignant about the deal life's handed them, they cope with it the best. There's a reason everyone rallies around Angel's funeral toward the end -- Angel was possibly the only one who showed any compassion for anyone else. Everyone else is too wildly self-obsessed, too busy interpreting the line "No day like today" as "I shouldn't have to do anything I don't want to do." If anyone but Angel (and maybe Collins) had died at the end, would anyone have positive things to say about how they had impacted the world around them? No, probably not.

I'm not surprised that this worldview shifted for me. Even back when I loved Rent, I kind of sensed that I might grow out of it eventually. I will say, while the movie (and, I'm sure, the show) doesn't hold as well together narratively as well it used to, I still love the music. These are some incredible songs. And these are good performers performing them. The songs just primarily work best outside of the context of the show, with the exceptions of "I'll Cover You (Reprise)" and "Will I?" and, to a lesser extent, "One Song Glory," all of which actually benefit from the plot in a way most of the others do not.

As a string of interesting songs, huge thumbs up. Everyone should buy the soundtrack. As a whole... not as successful. Certainly not successful enough to stay in my top 100.

So I guess let's kick it out.

vs. Harry and the Hendersons (1987) - An easy first choice. Rent takes this one. "I'll Cover You (Reprise)" is better than anything Harry and the Hendersons has to offer.

vs. The Artist (2011) - The Artist is a bit higher than it really should be. I admired it more than I liked it. It was bold and interesting but failed to really make an impact on me emotionally. While Rent doesn't make quite as big an impact on me as it used it, I still found moments of it very moving. Rent wins.

vs. Garden State (2004) - Another movie that is probably too high. I saw Garden State ages ago and it would probably drop significantly if I rewatched it. Rent is fortunate it ran up against this one. Last time, my third-choice movie was Whiplash, and I don't know if Rent would have won against Whiplash. It does here, though.

vs. Se7en (1995) - All right, here's where it stops. Ten years ago, Rent would win this easily (and clearly did when I began my Flickchart), but now I'd rank it below. The Rent soundtrack still goes above Se7en, but we're not ranking soundtracks versus movies, so Se7en wins and bumps Rent down to #156.

vs. Horrible Bosses (2011) - ...Well, this is kind of awkward. I don't know which to pick. Both have high highs and some pretty draggy lows. I think Rent has fewer draggy lows, thanks to its music, so I guess it goes above Horrible Bosses for now. I'm not sure that's the right choice, but it's where it goes.

vs. The Cabin in the Woods (2012) - One of the most amazingly creative movies I've ever seen. Sorry, Rent, you are going down to #194.

vs. 28 Days Later... (2002) - We're getting quite a lot of horror movies pitted against Rent. I think a lot of 28 Days Later's strength is in its first 20 minutes or so, which are spectacular, but not quite as spectacular as Rent's best moments. Rent wins.

vs. Seven Psychopaths (2012) - I'm one of the few people I know who preferred this to In Bruges. I think it's funnier, more profound, and has better acting. It's also funnier, more profound, and has better acting than Rent, which now drops to #203.

vs. Conspiracy Theory (1997) - This was one of the earliest thrillers I remember watching with my dad when I first started getting seriously into movies, and I still think it's a lot of fun, but I think I have to give the point to Rent here.

vs. Sabrina (1995) - Oh, this is a tough call for me. I love the remake of Sabrina. I haven't seen it in awhile, but I suspect that if I were to rewatch this today, it'd still have the same impact on me, whereas Rent definitely diminished. I think because of that I am going to give Sabrina the point.

This drops Rent from #44 to #205, which feels about right. I can't drop it too far out of the top of my movies. I loved it so much 10 years ago, and even if I don't connect with the characters anymore, there's still the matter of how incredible the music is. Seriously, people. Buy the soundtrack. Buy it now. And then learn all the words to "La Vie Boheme" and feel cool.

It's time to choose my next movie from The Top 100, which I will be writing about definitely no earlier than July 20, but probably significantly later. Did you see how long it took me to do this one? Anyway, next time's Top 100 movie is my original #21, West Side Story (1961). Rewatch it along with me or watch it for the first time and you can chime in with your comments when I finally get around to reviewing it.

Best and Worst Movies I've Seen This Year (So Far)

One of my resolutions for this year is to watch more movies that I did last year, and so far I've been doing pretty well. I've seen 29 new-to-me movies in January and February (a lot of them new releases, thanks to MoviePass), so I figured I'd do a a quick bimonthly look at the best and worst ones so far, and then I'll come back in May to talk about March/April, and so on.

So here are my top 5 of these past two months:

1. Room (2015). A thrilling and moving story told in a very unique way. By far my favorite of the Best Picture nominees.
2. Ex Machine (2015). More than a little disappointed Oscar Isaac didn't get a nomination for his role in this very creative movie.
3. The Martian (2015). This 2 1/2-hour movie didn't feel that long because it was so engaging the whole time.
4. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984). Jacob had been trying to get me to watch this for FOREVER. I finally did, and I loved it. It's become one of my favorite Miyazakis.
5. Anomalisa (2015). Certainly one of the most original movies of 2015... and one that has, I think, very interesting things to say.

And my least favorite movies of the past two months (starting with least favorite)

1. One Hour to Die (2012). I watched this weird little movie for one of my jobs and it's an ambitious concept -- it's an improvised movie filmed in real time with like a day of rehearsal beforehand -- but it's all a mess and not pleasant to watch at all.
2. Grace of Monaco (2014). Oh my gosh SO BORING.
3. Julia (1977). A really awkwardly-written and acted movie that somehow got a bunch of Oscar noms.
4. Rio Bravo (1959). John Wayne movies just have so much John Wayne in them...
5. The English Patient (1996). Another "why did this get so much Oscar attention?" movie. Gotta side with Elaine Benes on this one. It's so long and dull.

What have been your favorite and least favorite so far this year?

The Top 100: Amelie

The Top 100 is a blog series where I rewatch and rerank the movies that were in my Flickchart top 100 at the beginning of the challenge. I'm watching them in a random order to be as unbiased as possible in terms of reranking.

This week I rewatched Amelie, originally at #49 on my chart. That's awfully high for a movie I only saw once ten years ago. So it was about time I rewatched this and determined whether it deserve to be in my top 50 of all time.

Amelie is the story of a young woman who grows up very isolated and decides, as an adult, to try to make other people's lives better, even though she feels in many ways she can't relate to them. That's definitely a very relatable premise to me as someone who has often felt "outside" of the rest of the world, socially. As always, we'll begin my review with my live-blogging... which, admittedly, I didn't do much of. I didn't have that many thoughts on this movie as compared to past rewatches.

• The opening credits make it seem like it's going to be a much darker movie than it actually is. Huh.
• First time I saw this I knew nothing about Jeunet.  Now I can see his touches in all of this movie.
• The first significant dialogue from characters happens 12 minutes in.
• The use of sound in this is interesting. The silence after so much chatter felt very profound.
• This is very meandering. But what a fascinating cast of characters to meander with.
• This isn't a great sign. I'm only 45 minutes in and feel done with the movie.
• I'm not tweeting much because I don't have that much to say. The movie is interesting but definitely not wowing me like when I was 18.
• At the time I would have identified much more strongly than I do now with Amelie's friendlessness and lack of social understanding.
• I really enjoy this "only two possibilities for him being late" sequence. It is delightful.
• I'd forgotten the answer of the mysterious photo booth man.

And that's the extent of my recorded thoughts as I watched the movie. So let's delve into my official rewatch review.

Like other Jeunet films I've seen, this movie uses over-the-top dramatic acting and camera shots and effects to convey a bit more fantastical look at the world. In City of Lost Children, this was more ominous, as the entire world felt a bit unsafe. In Amelie, it's more whimsical -- the characters here are not threatening, but amusing, and we, along with Amelie, see them from the outside looking in without getting a very strong understanding of who they are. Just snapshots. But I'm not sure a lot of these characters would hold up to deeper scrutiny, so it's just as well we only see glimpses of them.

Where this film does capture me is in the latter half, where Amelie's extreme shyness continually keeps her from meeting the man who she is so drawn to. She contrives puzzle after puzzle leading him to her, only to back out at the last minute and slip a note into his pocket or his book into his bag instead without ever making actual contact. And the final scenes with Amelie and Nino racing around on his motorcycle are truly beautiful, giving a sense that these two odd ducks have finally found their perfect partner, someone who accepts who they are and, for Amelie, will maybe be the first person to actually know who they are.

That is a lovely and, to me, compelling concept, but the rest of the movie isn't quite as delightful to watch. Like an ensemble film, some of the stories are more interesting than others. I loved Lucien, the slow-minded fruitseller who took a constant stream of verbal abuse from his boss. I liked the garden gnome who traveled the world. I liked the mystery of the man in the photo booths and the reveal of the answer. But I was uninterested (and occasionally disturbed) by the stalker ex-boyfriend. I didn't care about the failed writer or the woman whose husband left her. And Amelie herself didn't click for me until about the halfway point.

I remember being wowed by the visuals the first time I saw it, and that didn't happen this time either. The muted colors and unusual camera angles made the movie feel darker than I wanted it to feel. It fit perfectly with the melancholy opening, but once Amelie had grown up and moved on, the darker visual tone stayed. Maybe it was showing us how her upbringing still lived her life for her, but to me the visuals seemed mismatched to the story.

This definitely isn't a bad movie. It's very enjoyable. Amelie is a uniquely conveyed character, and most of the stories are fun to watch, and the ending is gorgeous. But it's the first one in this challenge where I didn't have any "wow" moments. Not a single line or scene that really blew me away. Maybe it was a movie that spoke to me back in my late teens, but it appears it doesn't now.

With all that said, I'm sure it's not going to stay at #49 on my chart (that would be incorrect), but let's see where it does end up landing.

vs. The Circus (1928) - A Charlie Chaplin flick I don't remember much about, except I think I liked it. However, I *know* I liked Amelie, so it wins this one.

vs. Rurouni Kenshin (2012) - I think Amelie will still take this one because its story is told in a more unique way. I liked Rurouni Kenshin thematically and visually, but Amelie's quirkiness is just a tad bit more enticing to me.

vs. Whiplash (2014) - I loved Whiplash, especially its electrifying final scene. Nothing in Amelie held my attention the way those last 20 minutes did. Whiplash wins, dropping Amelie to #299.

vs. Schindler's List (1993) - I'm really glad this matchup happened, because I was mentally comparing Amelie to Schindler, as the other movie thus far in this challenge to drop drastically. (As well as the only other one so far I'd only seen one time.) But Schindler did have some wow moments. It was flawed, but there were some breathtaking scenes, and I didn't find scenes of that caliber in Amelie. Schindler wins this round, dropping Amelie to #447.

vs. Roxanne (1987) - I probably SHOULD choose Amelie here. It's clearly a more artistic movie. But I am so attached to the story of Cyrano, and Roxanne is a good modernized version that captures what I love about the original. It makes me feel more than Amelie did. Roxanne wins, dropping Amelie to #521.

vs. Quartet (2012) - I'll let Amelie win this one. Quartet is good but not great, and Amelie's creative storytelling pushes it a notch above.

vs. Shall We Dance? (1996) - I very much want to rewatch this one. I remember liking it a lot, but do I like Amelie better? I think we'll give Amelie the benefit of the doubt here and wait for a someday rewatch of Shall We Dance? to change its location.

vs. Waking Ned Devine (1998) - This movie is delightful. Is it as delightful as Amelie? It definitely made me laugh more. And it probably made me care more about the characters. Yeah, I think Waking Ned Devine is going to trump Amelie here, which pushes Amelie down to #530.

vs. Leap of Faith (1992) - Leap of Faith is probably too low here. I was fascinated by this story, which was much more profound than I expected it to be. Steve Martin wins over Audrey Tautou for the second time, pushing Amelie to #534.

vs. Notting Hill (1999) - Richard Curtis' writing is always funny, and the two stars are charismatic, but this movie never did all that much for me, so I'm going to give it to Amelie, which also didn't wow me but it attempted a bit more.

vs. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) - Hmmmm. I liked Mad Max, but I'm not sure I would have felt the same about it if I hadn't seen it in the theater. This is a really tough call. I think Mad Max is going to win for now because I don't remember being antsy while watching it the way I occasionally was with Amelie.

This gives Amelie a final ranking of #535, which is the lowest any movie in my original top 100 has fallen thus far. Sorry, Amelie!

My next movie from the top 100 that I'll be rewatching is my original #44: Rent (2005). I'll be writing about it no earlier than October 19th, so if you want to watch or rewatch a long with me and leave your own comments when I post that blog, go for it!

The Top 100: Beauty and the Beast

The Top 100 is a blog series where I rewatch and rerank the movies that were in my Flickchart top 100 at the beginning of the challenge. I'm watching them in a random order to be as unbiased as possible in terms of reranking.

Well, hi. Remember when I said I was initially going to be blogging about this? Yeah, that was June 15, which was the day I took the job at Marin Theatre Company and moved my entire life across the country and never had time to do anything. But now things have settled down a bit, I have some weekends free, and it's time to get back to work on this challenge.

Beauty and the Beast was #6 on my Flickchart when I began this challenge. Since Casablanca moved down the list, Beauty and the Beast moved up and is at #5 as of this viewing. For a long time, this has been my favorite Disney movie. Belle is my favorite Disney princess. These are most of my favorite Disney songs. It's one of my favorite Disney movie messages.

So it has a lot going for it, but I haven't seen it in a very long time. We're talking years, possibly a decade. Let's find out if it holds up after all this time.

Here are my live-blogged thoughts as I watch.

• Oh. Looks like I got my hands on the extended version. I've never seen this before.
• Oh, man. That opening castle shot is gorgeous.
• Ending of the prologue gave me chills.
• One reason I like Belle so much is that I always identified with her as a bookworm who doesn't fit in.
• And the townspeople don't even bother getting to know her. They just don't get her, so they give up.
• I also like that Belle stands up for the people she loves. Who the people around her also don't understand.
• I never noticed that the background music here was later used as the verse for "No Matter What" in the stage musical.
• Maurice seems so vulnerable in this scene in the forest. He started running & I immediately thought, "He can't possibly outrun the wolves."
• This opening intro to the servants is charming, and the intro to the Beast wonderfully ominous.
• LOL, I forgot Gaston has the entire wedding in place before proposing.
• Belle and Maurice have a puddle full of pigs directly outside their door?
• I remember even as a kid bring blown away by the visuals in the "Belle" reprise. They're so pretty.
• These far away shots of Belle exploring the castle are so atmospheric.
• As a child, I was terrified of that spider coach.
• I love that moment where you first sense Beast isn't entirely terrible, where he clearly has sympathy for Belle's loss of her father.
• "Gaston" was my favorite song to perform. Let's see if it's as fun here.
• This is a very minor detail, but I like that Gaston and the Beast both have blue eyes. Drawing that similarity is interesting to me.
• "I could be wrong, but that may not be the best way to win the girl's affection."
• I really like that the Beast's behavior is not excused as, "Oh, he's a tortured soul." Belle doesn't tolerate him being an entitled jerk.
• Interestingly, he then takes her rejection as a rejection of him PHYSICALLY, rather than his personality.
• Belle is the one person who might NOT judge him on his appearance and he's immediately alienating her with his behavior.
• Yay, big ensemble number!
• I really like that weird abstract shot of dancing plates and cups.
• The Beast's instant regret of his outburst in the west wing is really nice.
• Huh. I guess Philippe HAS been chilling at the castle, since the spider coach took Maurice home.
• Gosh, the animation on the Beast's wolf attack is stunning. That shadowy reaction shot of Belle... Wow.
• "Thank you for saving my life." "You're welcome." This is a lovely exchange.
• This scene with the asylum owner is the first step toward Gaston being a truly evil villain instead of just a narcissistic buffoon.
• Oh, how I used to dream of this castle library.
• The oatmeal scene is gorgeous. He tries to do what she wants, does it poorly, and she extends a compromise to help him save face.
• Ah, here's the extended scene that I've never seen before. 
• Oh right, "Human Again" was added to this version. Not my favorite song and since I'm not used to it in here it feels like an interruption.
• That above shot of dancing mops is lovely, though.
• I admit I can't take the "Learn how to read" subplot seriously since the Community horror story episode.
• Pretty sure the title song is one of the most romantic moments in all Disney movies. It looks and sounds so gorgeous.
• "He's no monster, Gaston. You are."
• The Mob Song is one of the scariest Disney villain songs to me. So much fear mongering.
• "Praise the Lord and here we go" is my favorite line in that song.
• "Fifty Frenchmen can't be wrong" is another good one.
• And here at the end, Gaston still makes it all about ownership of Belle. He hates the Beast for being the one she cares about.
• I like that the Beast doesn't deliberately kill Gaston. I think that's necessary.
• "At least I got to see you one last time."
• What I like about this is that while there is romance in it, their story is also heavily about friendship.
• The servants all turned into objects resembling themselves... Now I can't stop wondering what I would be.

Immediate thoughts: This absolutely, absolutely holds up. The animation is gorgeous, the songs are great, and the love story is every bit as good as I thought it was as a child. Seeing it now as an adult, I'm struck (as I mentioned in my tweets) by how strongly this is about friendship. It's not just about Belle finding someone to love, it's about finding someone she connects with at all. When she laments to her father about being alone at the beginning, it's not that she is searching for a husband. She instead says, "There's no one I can really talk to." She wants a companion first and foremost, and so it makes sense that her relationship with the Beast flows naturally out of that companionship.

This movie is sometimes torn down for being essentially a romantic story of Stockholm Syndrome, compared to other women-and-their-monster-men stories like Twilight. But there's a huge difference between this and Twilight, or this and The Phantom of the Opera (which I love but think is a terrible love story). It's that the Beast's awful kidnapper behavior in the first half of the movie is not condoned or romanticized. His servants try to make excuses for him, but Belle will have none of it (and I think some of that is more for their own well-being than for his anyway; after all, if she gives him a chance, they may get back their human bodies). It's not until she calls him out on his bad behavior and he starts making an attempt to change that she starts falling for him.

At the beginning of the story, nearly everyone, including the Beast himself, puts all their emphasis on the outward appearance. When Belle rejects him, it's because why wouldn't she reject him, with the way he looks? And when Belle rejects Gaston, she clearly must be crazy. Belle and Belle alone is the person who looks beneath the surface. In the Beast, she sees potential for good. In Gaston, she sees self-centeredness and manipulation. In her father, she sees hidden genius. That makes her suspect and works against her in her own village, but it's what lets her find happiness with the Beast.

This movie still deeply resonates with me. I'm not as angsty now as I was as a child or a teenager, but I still am very aware that I get misinterpreted a lot by people (I don't think I'm that complicated, but apparently so). I understand Belle's frustration of having no one to talk to because no one gets her. And I understand how awesome it is when you find somebody who is willing to do the little extra digging necessary to understand you.

Easily still my favorite Disney movie. Let's see if it stays at #5.

vs. The Sunshine Boys (1996) - We could at least pretend this was a contest if it was the original 1975 version, but this one is pretty lackluster and Beauty and the Beast easily snatches away the win.

vs. Rurouni Kenshin (2012) - I watched this for my movie challenge last year, and while I remember it having some very lovely cinematography, it's definitely not going to win.

vs. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011) - This was the first film to beat Schindler's List on my last Top 100 challenge. But it isn't going to beat Beauty and the Beast. I like ELAIC more than a lot of people do, but I'm not blind to its flaws. Beauty and the Beast has no such flaws. Or, well, if it does, I am blind to them.

vs. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) - I really like Anchorman, though I think Anchorman 2 is more solidly funny. Beauty and the Beast would also beat Anchorman 2, so it's definitely beating Anchorman 1.

vs. The Remains of the Day (1993) - This is one I'd have to rewatch to be sure of how I feel about it. I remember liking it very much overall, but individual moments didn't speak to me as much as with Beauty and the Beast.

vs. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) - Certainly my favorite of the Python movies, but, yeah, I'm disappointed by that ending. At least enough to give Beauty and the Beast the win.

vs. Back to the Future (1985) - This is the first one that might be a tough call, but, really, I didn't debate it for long. While Back to the Future is delightful and fun, it doesn't connect with me emotionally the way Beauty and the Beast does. I did not cry when Doc died and came back to life. I did for the Beast.

vs. The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) - Now that we're pitting it against other top 20 movies, I have to seriously think about my matches. But though it may bounce back out when I rewatch it, for now, The Purple Rose is going to lose to Beauty and the Beast.

vs. Singin' in the Rain (1952) - Ouch. This is definitely a tough call. OK. I think if Singin' in the Rain didn't have the Broadway Melody sequence, or if it was only 2 1/2 minutes instead of like 15, I think Singin' in the Rain would win. But because that section drags down the film for me and there's nothing in Beauty and the Beast that drags, it's going to win.

vs. Moulin Rouge! (2001) - Ohhhhhhhhhhhh this is so difficult to choose. OK. OK. OK. I think for now I'm choosing Beauty and the Beast, which is the first chart shift of this reranking. But while I love Moulin Rouge! so so so much for its music and its visuals, it does fall down in the area of story. I don't care even a little bit about Christian and Satine. Beauty and the Beast, however, looks amazing, makes me care about the characters, and sounds fantastic. So... it's going to take the win here.

vs. Love Actually (2003) - OK. I think this is the only one I'm going to let Beauty and the Beast lose to right now. Because there is something transcendentally amazing about Love Actually that makes me happy every single time I watch it, and while I love Beauty and the Beast so, so, so much, it doesn't quite reach those levels. So Love Actually wins here. For now.

Beauty and the Beast has moved from #6 on the original chart to #2 on my new chart. Wow. But, gosh, the movie's so good. The switching up of my top 20 continues.

Time to randomly choose my next movie to rewatch and rerank! Looks like I'll be checking out my original #49, a movie I've only seen once: Amelie (2001). I'll be writing about that no earlier than October 5th (and possibly a lot later, as was the case here), so feel free to rewatch it and discuss it along with me.

Movie Plots... Backwards

About a week ago, I had a lot of fun playing around with a question posed on AskReddit: What's one of your favorite movie plots that sound awesome backward?

I immediately started reversing movie plots in my head, and these were the results. Can you identify all of them? And leave your own suggestions below!

After a man tries to kill his next door neighbor, the neighbor begins spying on him, becoming more and more convinced that he's a pretty good guy after all.

A magical nanny arrives to take care of two children whose doting father loves them and plays with them. She spends time with the children until their father becomes cold and distant, then she leaves.

12 jurors convince each other that a boy on trial for murder is guilty before the trial even happens.

An ogre and a princess fall in love, so he imprisons her in a tower and goes to live in a swamp, where he invites fairy tale creatures to live with him.

A father fish encourages his son to go be free but immediately panics about him being gone. He starts looking for him, and when he finds him, he refuses to let him go anywhere again.

A mentally unstable ballerina comes back to life just in time to do a spectacular performance of Swan Lake and ultimately regains her health and her sanity as she becomes less obsessed with her work.

A man is freed from prison and tries to manipulate his wife into thinking that she's not crazy.

Several young adults escape from the Blair Witch and bond as they happily find their way out of the forest.

A woman forces an alien to get into her spaceship then chases it around until it revives everyone on the ship.

A computer is challenged to playing tic-tac-toe, which convinces it to start a global thermonuclear war. A teenager accidentally hacks into the computer and stops the impending doom.

A group of men feel confident when they put on a strip show for their whole town, but as soon as it's over they feel ashamed, everyone makes fun of them, and they completely lose their senses of self-worth.

A man feels very fortunate with his life, but then an angel shows him vignettes from an alternate version of his life that make him more and more depressed. His uncle finds some money, and this returns him to his regular cheerful self.

A group of dinosaur children leave their parents and grandparents to venture out into the wilderness and live where there is no food.

Two Broadway producers are let out of jail. They panic, fire everyone working on their new successful play, and return to unfulfilling jobs.

Two dogs and a cat leave their owners and trek for miles across the country to get away from them, but eventually the owners find them and take them back.

A boy leaves his village home to live with the animals in the jungle until he is abandoned by wolves.

A man's wife and child come to meet him at his hotel workplace. He yells at them for awhile and they are alarmed but everyone calms down eventually. The weather gets nicer and eventually they leave.

A choir of nuns get worse and worse under their director's supervision, until she stops being a nun and decides to be a night club singer instead.

A writer locks himself up in a fan's house with a broken leg. Once it heals, she kicks him out.

A Day in the Life of Flickchart: Part 3

Looks like it's time to rank some movies on my Flickchart account and talk about them here! If you missed how this works, you can check out my previous posts in the series here and here.

Let's jump right in.

1. Billy Elliot (2000) vs. Legally Blonde (2001)

This is kind of an interesting one, because both these movies were later made into musicals. If we're comparing the musicals, I would choose Legally Blonde because Laurence O'Keefe's music trumps Elton John's any day. But when it comes to the original core movies, Billy Elliot is far more compelling and beautifully done. Billy Elliot wins.

2. Les Miserables in Concert (1995) vs. Footloose (2001)

There are two other possible versions of both of these movies -- the Les Miserables concert cast from 2010 and the original 1984 Footloose. The earlier versions of both movies are better. I was unimpressed with the 2011 Footloose remake, and it definitely didn't help that the fun 1980s soundtrack was replaced by country music. Les Mis wins.

3. Holiday Inn (1942) vs. Cheaper by the Dozen (2003)

I am not sold on Holiday Inn as a great movie, although it does have some fun sequences. But it certainly beats the mess that was Cheaper by the Dozen. I had a large family. I knew large families. And that movie was written by someone who had no idea what they were talking about. Holiday Inn wins.

4. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) vs. The Matador (2005)

I remember enjoying The Matador when I watched it as part of my movie challenge last year, so it's a little puzzling that I can recall almost nothing of what actually happened in it. I had to remind myself that I actually had watched it at all. But I do remember liking it, so it beats Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy which I remember not liking. The Matador wins.

5. Fatal Attraction (1987) vs. Rosemary's Baby (1968)

At first I thought, "Ooh, this is a tough choice," but then I realized it really wasn't. I just wanted it to be a tough choice because I wanted to like Rosemary's Baby more than I did. It just never gripped me, and its final scene struck me as silly rather than scary. Fatal Attraction isn't a spectacular movie, but it's a thriller that thrills, and that was more than I got from its opponent here. Fatal Attraction wins.

6. The Karate Kid (1984) vs. Lyle, the Kindly Viking (2001)

Lyle, the Kindly Viking is a VeggieTales movie, and it's a pretty decent one. It's a parody of Gilbert and Sullivan musicals, which is, unsurprisingly, a gimmick that works for me. That being said, though, it's not my favorite VeggieTales movie, and while the music is great, the story is kind of blah. The Karate Kid is a better story as a whole. The Karate Kid wins.

7. Freaky Friday (1976) vs. The Others (2001)

I'm oddly fascinated by body-swap stories, so I should like Freaky Friday, but Jodie Foster's acting as a child rubs me the wrong way. The Others is a really beautifully-filmed story that easily takes the match here. The Others wins.

8. John Q. (2002) vs. The Women (1939)

The Women is another movie that I watched last year that has mostly slipped my mind. Maybe that's the peril of watching five movies a week. But it is undoubtedly better than John Q., which had a potentially interesting concept and a poorly executed script. The Women wins.

9. Toby Tyler, or Ten Weeks With a Circus (1960) vs. P.S. I Love You (2007)

...Well, this is a gross matchup because I hate both of these movies. Toby Tyler is about a very annoying young boy who runs away to join the circus. We had it on VHS when I was growing up. P.S. I Love You was a movie I watched with some of my dormmates in an attempt to bond with them but, wow, did I hate that movie. I'm really not sure what to vote for here. I checked their current stats and it looks like Toby Tyler is eight spots ahead of P.S. I Love You, so it's not surprising that I'm having trouble choosing between them. I'm going to vote for Toby Tyler for now because that way at least nobody's gaining any spots on my chart. Neither one of them deserves to climb up.

10. Ali (2001) vs. Mighty Aphrodite (1995)

I'm a big fan of Mighty Aphrodite. It's one of my favorite Woody Allen comedies. I find it funny and delightful. Ali, on the other hand, is not funny and delightful (which it did not try to be) nor interesting and inspirational (which it did try to be). Mighty Aphrodite wins.

No shake-ups this time around. After 145,000 rankings, my chart's in pretty good order. Maybe I should start an entirely new Flickchart account from scratch for this blog series, to show how the charts take shape before you've ranked most of your movies into place. What do you guys think? And did I get any of these decisions wrong? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Top 5, Bottom 5: Coming-of-Age Movies

Let's get back into blogging with a Top 5, Bottom 5 post! Whooooo! I apparently watched my 100th and 101st coming-of-age movies this year (Albatross and Finding Forrester) so this seems like a good time to write about my favorite and least favorite movies in the genre.

Top 5:
1. Charlie Bartlett (2007, #24). It's been a long time since I rewatched it -- though if I ever get back to my Top 100 project, I'll get around to it -- but I still remember how delightful I found Anton Yelchin and how compelling I found Robert Downey, Jr. And there was a period of time where I recommended it to everyone around me.
2. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986, #31). I've written about this one before in my list of the happiest movies of all time, and I still think it belongs in that list. There's a tremendous sense of the freedom in this movie, and it always makes me feel better watching it.
3. American Beauty (1999, #34). I always forget about the coming-of-age aspect of this movie, since I think of it as revolving so much around Kevin Spacey's midlife crisis. But it is one of my favorite movies.
4. Donnie Darko (2001, #35). This movie is propelled almost entirely by Jake Gyllenhaal's fascinating performance, but it totally works.
5. Napoleon Dynamite (2004, #71). After several coming-of-age movies stuck together in the 30s of my Flickchart, we jump down several slots to find this weird little film that always makes me laugh.

© 2006 CGP Grey, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio

Bottom 5:
5. Hoot (2006, #2329 out of 2374). This movie is terrible. It's unfunny and uninteresting and propaganda trying to masquerade as a story, and I don't have a lot of tolerance for that.
4. Bee Season (2005, #2318). I don't remember much about this one except that I found it extremely disappointing.
3. Anne B. Real (2003, #2276). Well, there could've been a story here, but it got drowned out by ridiculousness.
2. Mean Streets (1973, #2267). This is maybe unfairly ranked so low. I really don't remember it. But I don't think I'll ever care enough to want to watch it again.
1. Tuck Everlasting (2002, #2140). I was a moderate fan of the book but was not so much a fan of this sappy movie.

Top 5 Unseen:
1. City of God (2002, global #201)
2. The Last Picture Show (1971, #223)
3. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984, #227)
4. Come and See (1985, #471)
5. Dazed and Confused (1993, #476)

What are your favorite and least favorite coming-of-age movies? Which of my top unseen ones should I watch first?

Surprise Blog! And It's a Movie Guessing Game

Last Halloween I had you guys guess mangled horror movie synopses, but the last time I went through my Flickchart 100 at a time and pulled out those movies was over a year ago. And I watched a LOT of movies since then, thanks to the Movie Challenge of Madness, and my chart has shifted all over, so they'll all be different than they were at that point.

I'll be running the plot synopses through Bad Translator and then posting the results here. I will even tell you the general genre or style of the movie to help you out a little. Guess in the comments what you think they are, and... at some point, not sure when due to my wacky schedule, I will come back and update with the answers!

#100. (Musical) It is embarrassing accident of Benjamin Mr. [title of the movie] that led to a hair salon in London was one of the most important crimes of the general assembly of Friends of the man, woman, woman. On the basis of popular music.

#200. (Comedy) Unemployed steel workers built nudity, striptease, remember that this woman is completely nude.

#300 - (Romantic Comedy) Two women in this field, or name to find the location of local points.

#400 - (Animation) When the mass begins in the writing of the attack in the world, the immortal guardians are willing to protect the innocent boys and girls in all parts of the world.

#500. (Comedy/Drama) Shortly after the divorce, well, that you can go to the house in the small town of Ribera fijiswitzerland. ). I would like to revive the romance of an old friend of mine, who is already married and has a child.
(It should be noted that this plot is in no way connected to Fiji or Switzerland and I don't know what happened there.)

#600. (Comedy/Drama) The poor woman's daughter makes the head work, family, back to Mexico, a lot of people in the United States, where it began.

#700. (Sci-Fi) Mental capacity, The user will get 100% with the help of a mysterious drug that can be taken to the author of the financial genius of this new world, where all types of risks.

#800. (Drama) The use of the closed return type, you're my friend, and the changes in your life.
(Yeah, good luck with this one.)

#900. (Fantasy) Eustace from childhood to the age of Villeneuve and the so-called irreversible. Double bed king-x-i lost my son, the prince, the lion, the Lillian said to know each other.

#1000. (Musical) The hotel is only open on holidays, a singer, a dancer, a rival in love, beautiful, passionate, artistic people.

#1100. (Musical) Anthropology Professor and Secretary of the Marion learning with young people's sexual behaviour. Windsurfing to young people, not for sex, but the song of war, the slogan of the rat and mouse, dance, dick Dale and the color.

#1200. (Thriller) The poor Director of the bureau of advertising, an error, a representative of the government, the group of foreign spies, and is against the law for the entire country, and could not find a way to survive.

#1300. (Drama) France, again, I say that they are religious, but the unfortunate Queen [title of the movie]. And the wedding Louis 15-Queen, 19, of power and finally the Queen and ultimately the fall of the Tower of the fortress.

#1400. (Animation) Young, shy groom's vows, in the presence of random program, when a dead woman in her grave, if he wakes up because he is married.

#1500. (Thriller) Cory is a strong woman, ex-con and her lover violet, the development of a plan to steal millions of people saving money, wine, red line, Gaius Caesar.

#1600. (Comedy) The two got a chance to find comfort in alcohol and other drugs. I think the quiet life, go to the northern part of this area, depending on the value, like [part of the movie title]'s uncle in the bathroom.

#1700. (Animation) Young asparagus, Laura carrot start spreading rumors, which spread Bumblyburg like the grass of the risk covering the entire city. Larry, the man said that God wants to tell stories that affect people.

#1800. (Drama) Desmond Doyle lost his wife or his family the day after Christmas, in the Ireland of the court. Children go to church and shelter. [title of the movie] batteries Desmond apply to the Court to take the kids.

#1900. (Thriller) The competition tough women, a young mother began to prepare for the competition.
(There is no competition in this movie.)

#2000. (Drama) After a blurred trauma in the summer, Melinda, the possibility of the school, near the school, arguments with friends and family, conversation, dark history, it is an experience, so she decided to ask me again.

#2100. (Animation) Three young the neighbor's house is really full of life, we know it's a new monster.

#2200. (Romance) Paris before the First world War, the run(Austrian) And [part of the movie title] (France), the two friends falling in love), Catherine, but the love and the marriage, Katherine, [part of the movie title]. Once again, after the war, Germany Catherine love.

#2300. (Musical) The territory of Oklahoma, in the twentieth century, two young peasants and shepherds, cow boys, street vendors, the heart of a woman to fight against the devil.

The Top 100: Schindler's List

It wasn't all that many years ago that I watched Schindler's List for the first time. Sitting down to rewatch it for this challenge (it originally sat at #93 on my chart), I really didn't remember that much about it other than that I liked it. But I also was skeptical that it would manage to remain in the Top 100. I had the sense that I'd ranked it that high out of respect and assumed obligation rather than because I actually liked it that much. Though there wasn't going to be any way of knowing until I watched it, though, so I got a copy and sat down to watch it.

Schindler's List, for any who do not know, is based on the true story of Oskar Schindler, a German business owner whose factory safely employed over a thousand Jews during World War II, keeping them alive throughout the duration of the war. The 1993 movie was directed by Steven Spielberg and starred Liam Neeson as Schindler, Ben Kingsley as his Jewish accountant Itzhak Stern, and Ralph Fiennes as the sadistic camp commander Amon Goeth. The movie was nominated for 12 Oscars and won seven of them, including Best Picture and Best Director. Neeson and Fiennes were both nominated for their roles but neither won.

I have to admit, I did not watch this under ideal circumstances. The movie is three hours long, which I had forgotten when I sat down to watch it, and I ended up unfortunately having to break it up into a couple chunks, due to unforeseen circumstances like falling asleep in the middle of it. So I didn't get as complete a rewatch as I would have if I had managed to just watch the whole thing straight through, but I'm often able to reimmerse myself in a story very quickly, so I don't think I missed out on too much.

Here were my live-blogged thoughts as I watched.

• Oh gosh. I forgot Schindler's List was 3+ hours long. Good thing I've carved out a whole afternoon to watch it!
• I know it's premature to say this, but I just don't anticipate this staying in my top 100. I feel it's there obligatorily.
• I am kind of fascinated by all the shots of items rather than people.
• Nicely done on this scene where the rich people move out and Schindler moves in. Very interesting contrast.
• I'm sad that Liam Neeson just does macho action flicks now. He's so interesting in this.
• Knowing how it ends, it's really interesting to see Oskar's disregard for people at the beginning.
• Oh, man. The scene with Goeth and the engineer woman is chilling. I forgot how good Fiennes is in this.
• "By this evening, those six centuries [of Jewish Krakow] are a rumor." Yikes.
• The score during the girl in the red dress' appearance is wonderful. Really gives the scene power.
• Oskar's expression when the woman says, "They say you are good." He doesn't want to be good, he wants to be successful.
• "Do you know who I am? I'm Schindler."
• There are moments where the camera looks at Goeth and he just seems so young. So full of hatred and so young.
• Goeth's brief foray into pardoning people is a fascinating section of the story, as is the moment when he decides he's done.
• The scene where the little boy tries to find a hiding place - sad and scary.
• The requiem is...astonishingly sad.
• "The list is an absolute good."
• There's something very moving about the scene where Schindler's workers confirm they're on the list.
• The "one more person" scene totally works for me. That he did so much & wasn't busy congratulating himself is important.

I think one of the things that is interesting about this movie is that while it portrays itself as being some sort of big epic movie about the plight of the Jews during the Holocaust, it really keeps its story arc fairly narrow: on one man who tried to do the right thing. Because of that, the movie has gotten a lot of criticism for making the Jewish people's suffering serve as someone else's plot device -- and understandably so. While there are long scenes of people running through the streets, being herded into cars, and crying in over-crowded barracks, very few of these have identifiable characters in them, much less characters that have any kind of development during the story, and as a result, it does seem a little sensationalized. If Spielberg had trimmed some of those scenes, what remained could have had a stronger impact, and he could truly have focused on fleshing out Schindler's character, which is a little lacking here -- but, oh, how I wanted it to be interesting, because what little is there is very good.

First-half-of-the-movie Schindler is a calculating businessman who hires Jews because they are cheaper than Poles, and is furious when his accountant hires people based on their need rather than their skills. Second-half-of-the-movie Schindler works tirelessly to save as many people as he can from death in the camps. Both these characters are fascinating, enigmatic, and intriguing. What's lacking is the transition.

There is a moment or two where Schindler is faced with the humanity of those being sent to their deaths, but we never really see, either in Neeson's performance or in the script, how or why that change takes place, so when he suddenly begins to fight for his Jewish workers, it's a little abrupt and took me by surprise. Perhaps it takes Schindler himself by surprise too, but that's never addressed. The movie is three hours long, and they couldn't fit in a line or two of transitional dialogue?

I've now spoken mostly of the film's shortcomings, so let me say some of the things I do love about it: The film is shot marvelously. The black-and-white images are haunting -- some hauntingly beautiful, others hauntingly ugly. Ralph Fiennes as Amon Goeth has some of the most interesting moments in the whole movie, as you sense that he's not just a purely evil stereotype, and you're constantly leaning in to his performance to catch the nuances. (He lost the Oscar to Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive, which is just silly as far as I'm concerned.)

As I said in my live blogging section, I really like Schindler's ending as well, though it gets a lot of flak as well. I like that as he's receiving the gratitude of so many people, he doesn't feel like a savior. He feels deeply unworthy and far from pleased with himself, because, perhaps for the first time, the magnitude of what they have all just live through. I like that Spielberg resisted the urge to let him give himself a congratulatory pat on the back and say, "Yes, why, that was good of me."

And, frankly, I like Schindler himself by the end. There's something inspiring to me about a prosperous businessman who loses everything he's earned to do the right thing. He leaves broke, wanted by the authorities, and feeling guilty that he couldn't leave with less money. Because sometimes doing the right thing takes everything you have, and you don't get your happy ending (an ending caption informs us that Schindler's marriage failed after the war, as did his future business attempts) but it's still worth doing the right thing.

So is it Top 100 material? No, definitely not. This was a case of me elevating the movie to a higher status than it deserved because it was prestigious and about Important Things, but it's pretty messy in places and certainly isn't the amazing movie I expect all my Top 100s to be. But let's see where it actually lands on my chart if I rerank it.

vs. A Star Is Born (1954) - That's another movie I really need to rewatch, because it's extremely hazy in my memory. In the meantime, Schindler's List wins this matchup. It may not belong in the Top 100, but it certainly belongs in the top half of my chart, probably in the top quarter.

vs. Argo (2012) - Argo is fun and interesting, but despite the flaws in Schindler's List, its best moments are better than Argo's best moments. It wins.

vs. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011) - A lot of people HATE this movie, but I love it a lot. Unrealistic, unbelievable, and contrived? Absolutely, but that main kid character is a real, wonderful character and he makes the whole movie worth it. I think for now it's going to take the win over Schindler, though that might not stand up if I rewatched ELAIC.

vs. Nativity! (2009) - Oh, man, this is a tougher choice than it probably should be. Nativity! is a silly, but perfect-for-me little British movie about Martin Freeman putting together a ridiculous nativity play for a school, and it's delightful and insane. I think I want to vote for it, but I'm not sure that I should. But you know what? I've spent several years having Schindler's List too high because I felt it "should" be. If I overcompensate and it lands too low for a little while, then that'll just even things out. Nativity! wins.

vs. Billy Elliot the Musical Live (2014) - A good, but not a great, musical based on a great movie. If this was the original film this would be a different question altogether, but Schindler's is going to win here.

vs. The Basketball Diaries (1995) - I remember a single scene from The Basketball Diaries, and it's when Leo is begging his mom for money. That scene alone was enough to catapult the movie up into the top third of my chart, but that one scene can't beat all of Schindler's List.

vs. Hawking (2004) - This film is much too high, and I'm pretty sure it's because when I ranked it I was still hardcore crushing on Benedict Cumberbatch. That is less the case now. Schindler's List takes the win here.

vs. The Goodbye Girl (2004) - I do so like The Goodbye Girl. Both this TV version and the original 1970s version. It's such a great script. However, it's the Neil Simon script itself that is special more than this particular version, so let's give a nod to the more artistically done film: Schindler.

vs. The Bicycle Thief (1948) - This feels almost exactly on par with Schindler for me, actually, so this choice may be made somewhat arbitrarily. I think I'm going to go with Schindler for now because of the cinematography. The Bicycle Thief has an equally moving story (though on a much smaller scale), but Schindler is just stunning to look at sometimes.

vs. Bernie (2011) - My love for Linklater has pushed this a bit further up the charts than I think it deserves as well. It's a good movie, but Schindler's List is the clear winner.

vs. Kiss Me, Stupid! (1964) - I really enjoy this movie, but I find the second half pretty uneven. Plus, I really like the idea of Schindler's List being sandwiched between two ridiculous comedies whose names end in exclamation points. So Schindler's wins here.

After reranking, Schindler's List went from #93 to #443, which is a huge drop -- the furthest a movie's moved on this challenge thus far -- but it feels much more accurate to me. Now I'll just have to remember to evaluate it fairly on future rankings and not just automatically click for it to win over most movies.

Looking ahead, the next movie I will be watching is my #6: Beauty and the Beast (1991), which I will watch and blog about no earlier than June 15th, so you can all go ahead and watch/rewatch it with me!

In the meantime, leave your thoughts about Schindler's List in the comments section below.

The Top 100: Casablanca

Today's Top 100 rewatch is actually the #1 movie on my Flickchart: Casablanca. I've named it as my favorite movie for a long time now, probably since middle school, and, truth be told, I'm wondering if it's time for it to give up its title. Don't get me wrong, it's still a fantastic film, but last time I watched it, it just didn't connect to me quite as strongly or as emotionally as some of the other movies in my top 20. But we'll give it a chance today to prove it belongs in the #1 slot.

Often listed in critics' "best films of all time" lists, Casablanca is a 1942 romantic war drama about a cynic named Rick (Humphrey Bogart) who runs a night club in unoccupied French Morocco, one of the last stops on the road for World War II refugees escaping to America. One night, a woman from his past (Ingrid Bergman) appears in his club and everything changes.

As before, I'll live-blog my movie thoughts as I watch (plenty of spoilers here!) and I'll write up a more complete review later.

• This opening music makes it seem much more like a swashbuckling adventure than it is.
• Love the shot of everybody mournfully looking at the departing plane. This movie is really lovely to look at.
• There's a fantastic contrast in this opening scene at Rick's. Such cheerful music but everybody in there is miserable and desperate. What great atmosphere.
• I like Bogart in a lot of films, but I think he's REALLY good here. Lots of nuance.
• When black and white movies make use of shadow, it's just gorgeous.
• This dialogue is really excellent. It's no surprise it gets quoted all the time.
• "As Time Goes By" is one of my favorite songs from a movie.
• Captain Renault is always fascinating. His casual charming flippancy makes him an interesting quasi-antagonist because he understands a lot more than his demeanor leads you to believe.
• "She's coming back, I know she's coming back." What a quietly heartbreaking line.
• The innocence and naivete of Rick and Ilsa's relationship in Paris is really interesting to me this time around.
• Ilsa's last speech to Rick before he leaves Paris is lovely and sad.
• "And what if you track down these men and kill them, what if you killed all of us? From every corner of Europe, hundreds, thousands would rise up to take our places. Even Nazis can't kill that fast."
• I like that Victor is given some depth of character and is not just the hero archetype.
• The scene with the young Bulgarian girl and Rick is a beautiful one. So compelling.
• Rick's constant fight between cynicism and his deeper sense of morality is wonderful to watch play out.
• Yay, the "La Marseillaise" scene. This is one of my favorite scenes of all time in any movie.
• I think one of the things that makes this dialogue so fascinating is the constant forced diplomacy, where people very carefully avoid making threats or promises, but the most innocent lines convey much more ominous purposes.
• Victor is really a very good guy. His interaction with Ilsa where he gives her an opening to talk about Rick makes me feel so bad for him, knowing she doesn't love him the same way.
• "One woman has hurt you, and you take out your revenge on the rest of the world."
• "Welcome back to the fight. This time I know our side will win."
• The foggy visuals in the whole airport scene are truly beautiful.
• What a wonderful ending.

As you can see, the movie still holds up. In fact, it is one of those that improves upon multiple viewings because the plot's pretty complicated, and once you have a good grasp on the plot, you can really admire the music and the cinematography and the acting and the writing and the depth of the whole shebang. Even if this doesn't end up staying in my #1 spot, there's no doubt it's really impressive. It might actually be a perfect movie.

So if I think it's a perfect movie, why would it possibly drop from #1 on Flickchart? Well, because as much as there is to admire and love about this movie, I don't feel that deep an emotional connection to it. The final scene is stirring, and the abovementioned "La Marseillaise" scene is an incredibly powerful few minutes of cinema, but overall I find myself drawn to it more on an analytical level than on an emotional one. That doesn't mean it isn't amazing, it doesn't even mean it's not deserving of my #1 spot, but it might mean that if I had to choose a single movie to represent me and my tastes or to be the movie I love most for the rest of my life... it might not be this one.

Of course, my feelings could change as I rank, when I'm forced to compare it to other movies I also love. So let me give it a shot and see where this ends up. Good luck, Casablanca.

vs. Where the Wild Things Are (2009) - Not even a tiny bit of a contest here. (As I suspect will be the case for most of my top 100 movies and the first match-up they encounter.) Casablanca steamrolls right over the creepy monsters from this movie.

vs. Argo (2012) - Argo was one of my favorite Best Picture nominees from a fairly weak year, but it's pretty fluffy, if fun, and doesn't seriously measure up to Casablanca.

vs. American Splendor (2003) - I remember thinking American Splendor was interesting but not stunning, so Casablanca wins again.

vs. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) - As much as I enjoy Last Crusade, it's not going to win here. It's just not as meaningful.

vs. The Lion King (1994) - So far, Casablanca has held onto its #1 spot, and... it will continue to do so against Lion King. The movie looks great and has amazing music, but I can't in good conscience let Casablanca lose to an animated movie that gets so many of its jokes out of anachronistic pop culture references, which is a trend I hate.

vs. The Odd Couple (1968) - OK, this is a much tougher call. I think this is Neil Simon's best script, and Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon knock it out of the park. That being said, Casablanca's still going to take it. The Odd Couple is light, fluffy fun, but, again, there's meaning to Casablanca, and I can't discount that.

vs. Into the Woods (1991) - This is a movie that is almost certainly higher than it should be, as it's sitting in my top 20 and should probably be much lower. Casablanca wins.

vs. The Truman Show (1998) - OK. This is where things get difficult. This is the first one I think Casablanca might actually lose. Now, I might be overestimating how much I love The Truman Show (and if it jumps further down when I rewatch it as part of this challenge, I'll reevaluate Casablanca as well), but from all the times I've watched it, I remember it being just... amazing. Both artistically intriguing and emotionally satisfying. And if Casablanca lost to it, it'd still be in my top 10. So... I think... I think I'm going to do it. Here goes. I think Truman Show is going to win this round.

vs. Hairspray (2007) - This is another incredibly tough call. Hairspray is light and silly but every second of it makes me happy, and it's one of my go-to "I'm having a crappy day and need to feel better" movies. So even though it'll knock Casablanca out of my top 10... I think I may need to go for it. Here goes.

vs. Mary Poppins (1964) - Though I dearly love Mary Poppins, it's not quite as consistent as Casablanca is throughout. After two losses in a row, Casablanca wins.

vs. Memento (2000) - A really excellent movie, but I'd have to see it again (as I will in the next four years) to be certain that it's as good as Casablanca. Casablanca wins.

Well, that settles it, guys. Casablanca moved from #1 down to #14 -- not that significant a shift, but it feels significant to me, because it hasn't been anywhere but #1 in a loooooot of years. It feels weird to suddenly see it in the middle of the chart.

With that accomplished, let's look ahead to my next rewatch. According to my randomizer, I'll be watching #22: The Sixth Sense. After two romances, this'll be a slightly different choice. I'll be writing about that on May 18th, so if you want to rewatch that along with me and share your own thoughts, you're more than welcome to do so!